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Hippies - A Guide to an American Subculture

The central tenant of hippie philosophy, as stated by Timothy Miller in The Hippies and American Values, is "If it feels good, do it so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else." When deconstructed, this "creed" has two components: first, it is good to live in a hedonistic lifestyle, and second, in an ideal society there will be no rules governing consensual behaviour. In other word, the hippies believed in doing things that feel good and, soloing as no one gets hurt, everyone should be free to engage in any activity deemed pleasurable or positive.

This general philosophy was implicitly accepted by the hippies and governed the way they lived their daily lives. hippies sought out pleasure, encouraged others to seek pleasure, and rebelled against any social convention, law or tradition seen as an attempt to curtail "natural" impulses and desires. Hippies also celebrated any tradition, philosophy, or activity that had the potential to heighten the pleasurable experience of life.

To understand the hippie focus on pleasure and hedonism, it is necessary to understand the culture from which the hippies emerged. A variety of social and cultural factors converged in the 1940s and 1950s to create what has been called a culture of "consensus". Whether this was a "real" quality of the environment or simply an expression of angst among the younger generation, the hippies felt that society was dominated by conservative values and materialism.

According to writer and historian Mark Lytle, the Beats were the first counterculture group that "subjected the Cold War consensus and social conformity to a penetrating critique." The hippies found heroes among the Beats and followed in their footsteps, becoming the next generation of critics to question the status quo in American culture. The hippies saw materialism, militant politics, and social repression as the ills of society, and they rebelled largely by living outside the expectations and the accepted norms of mainstream culture.

Hippie rebellion against the mainstream took many forms, but one of the primary modes of fighting the system was to emphasize "individualism" and "hedonism" as guiding goals in the hip life. This focus was a direct rejection of the "consensus" of the previous period, which emphasized putting one's own pleasure second to the stability of family and society. In sharp contrast, the hippies said "me first" and boldly declared that they would live pleasurable lives, even if mainstream society said it was wrong or illegal

From a philosophical perspective, the hippies' emphasis on individual rights and freedoms placed then in the school known as "classical liberalism," which was pioneered by Western philosophers like John Locke and Adam Smith. Like the liberalists, the hippies believed that the peaceful pursuit of one's own happiness, coupled with the willingness to cooperate for mutual goals, was the recipe for the ideal society. Unlike the intellectual reasoning of Locke and Smith, hippie liberalism was chaotic and largely based on rejecting mainstream (often conservative) political / social philosophy, which was blamed for the lamentable American culture.

In the 21st century, contemporary liberals often focus on equal opportunity and access to material goods; however, the defence of personal liberty remains an important part of the liberal worldview. Long after the hippie scene dissipated, the idea of the "hippie" is still inextricably tied, in the popular imagination, to liberalism and individual rights.

It is inaccurate to assume that most hippies saw themselves as activists or part of a social movement. many hippies, for their part, did little more than conform to the rule and trend created within counterculture. however, the hippie lifestyle itself was a form of rebellion, defined by defiance of cultural norms, emphasis on personal fulfilment, and acceptance of diversity as the mode of a more enjoyable, more equitable society.

Hippies and the Age of Aquarius

Hippies and the Age of Aquarius is an image that conjures up a feeling of love, peace and freedom in my mind. The idea of a New golden age of Joy and Light. We think of the Hippies now as the counterculture or new agers. But, what was the hippie movement all about really?

What’s a hippie? What’s the difference between an old hippie and a new hippie? Once a hippie, always a hippie? These and similar questions are the source of much debate today. New subcategories like web-hippies, cyber-hippies, even zippies have become fashionable. But what is a hippie and are you one?

To answer this question, let’s see what defines a hippie. Some say it’s the way people dress, tie dye, long hair, and how they behave, a loose free form lifestyle.

Others classify them as Pot smokers, LSD heads, and rock 'n' roll fans or those with certain radical political views as hippies.

The dictionary defines a hippie as one who doesn’t conform to society’s standards and advocates a liberal attitude and lifestyle. Can all these definitions be right?

It seems to me that these definitions miss the point. By focusing on the most visible behavioral traits these limited descriptions fail to reveal what lies in the hippie heart that motivates such behavior.

To understand The Way of the Hippy, we must look at those circumstances that preceded the birth of the hippy movement, the important events that changed our lives, our resulting frustration with society, and the philosophy that developed from our spiritual maturation.

Hippy is an establishment label for a profound, invisible, underground, evolutionary process. For every visible hippy, barefoot, beflowered, beaded, there are a thousand invisible members of the turned-on underground. Persons whose lives are tuned in to their inner vision, who are dropping out of the TV comedy of American Life.
My view is that being a hippie is a matter of accepting a universal belief system that transcends the social, political, and moral norms of any established structure, be it a class, church, or government.

Each of these powerful institutions has it’s own agenda for controlling, even enslaving people. Each has to defend itself when threatened by real or imagined enemies. So we see though history a parade of endless conflicts with country vs. country, religion vs. religion, class vs. class. After millennium of war and strife, in which uncounted millions have suffered, we have yet to rise above our petty differences.

The way of the hippie is antithetical to all repressive hierarchical power structures since these are adverse to the hippie goals of peace, love and freedom. This is why the “Establishment” feared and suppressed the hippie movement of the ’60s, as it was a revolution against the established order.

It is also the reason why the hippies were unable to unite and overthrow the system since they refused to build their own power base. Hippies don’t impose their beliefs on others. Instead, hippies seek to change the world through reason and by living what they believe.

To be a hippie you must believe in peace as the way to resolve differences among peoples, ideologies and religions. The way to peace is through love and tolerance. Loving means accepting others as they are, giving them freedom to express themselves and not judging them based on appearances. This is the core of the hippie philosophy.
To be a hippie you must believe in peace as the way to resolve differences among peoples, ideologies and religions. The way to peace is through love and tolerance. Loving means accepting others as they are, giving them freedom to express themselves and not judging them based on appearances. This is the core of the hippie philosophy.

The New Counter Culture

What did the hippies want?

Since the 1960s, many aspects of the hippie counterculture have been assimilated by the mainstream. Public political demonstrations are considered legitimate expressions of free speech. Unmarried couples of all ages feel free to travel and live together without societal disapproval. Frankness regarding sexual matters has become the norm—even conservative talk radio hosts, like Dr. Laura Schlessinger, feel free to exclaim "Orgasms are cool!" In urban centers especially, and in corporate America, the rights of homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people have expanded.

Religious and cultural diversity has gained greater acceptance. Eastern religions and spiritual concepts, karma and reincarnation in particular, have reached a wider audience with around 20% of Americans espousing some New Age belief. A wide range of personal appearance options and clothing styles have become acceptable, all of which were uncommon before the hippie era. Co-operative business enterprises and creative community living arrangements are widely accepted. Interest in natural food, herbal remedies and vitamins is widespread, and the little hippie "health food stores" of the 1960s and 1970s are now large-scale, profitable businesses.At the Rainbow World Gathering 2006 in Costa Rica

The immediate legacy of the hippies included: in fashion, the decline in popularity of the necktie which had been everyday wear during the 1950s and early 1960s, and generally longer hairstyles, even for politicians such as Pierre Trudeau; in literature, books like The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test; in music, the blending of folk rock into newer forms including acid rock and heavy metal; in television and film, far greater visibility and influence, with some films depicting the hippie ethos and lifestyle, such as Woodstock, Easy Rider, Hair, The Doors. Even children's television shows like H.R. Pufnstuf, and educational shows such as The Electric Company and Mulligan Stew were influenced by the hippies.

While many hippies made a long-term commitment to the lifestyle, some younger people argue that hippies "sold out" during the 1980s and became part of the materialist, consumer culture. Hippies may still be found in bohemian enclaves around the world.

Contemporary hippies have made use of the World Wide Web and can be found on virtual communities. In the United Kingdom, the New age travellers movement, while eschewing the label 'hippie', nevertheless revived many hippie traditions into the 1980s and 1990s. Current events, festivals and parties continue to promote the hippie lifestyle and values. The "boho-chic" fashion style of 2003-2007 had a number of hippie features and the London Evening Standard even used the term "hippie chic" (11 March 2005).

Neo-hippies, some of whom are children and grandchildren of the original hippies, advocate many of the same beliefs of their 1960s counterparts. Drug use is just as accepted as in the "original" hippie days, although most neo-hippies do not consider it necessary to take drugs in order to be part of the lifestyle, and others reject drug use in favor of alternative methods of reaching higher or altered consciousness such as drumming circles, community singing, meditation, yoga and dance.

In the United States, some hippies refer to themselves as "Rainbows," a name derived from their tie-dyed T-shirts, and for some, from their participation in the hippie group, "Rainbow Family of Living Light". Since the early 1970s, the Rainbows meet informally at Rainbow Gatherings on U.S. National Forest Land as well as internationally. "Peace, love, harmony, freedom, and community" is their motto.

The tradition of hippie festivals began in the United States in 1965 with Ken Kesey's Acid Tests, where the Grateful Dead played under the influence of LSD and initiated psychedelic jamming. For the next several decades, many hippies and neo-hippies became part of the Deadhead and Phish Head communities, attending music and art festivals held around the country. The Grateful Dead toured continuously, with few interruptions between 1965 and 1995. Phish toured sporadically between 1983 and 2004.

An ongoing yearly event for hippies is The Oregon Country Fair which began in 1969 as a benefit for an alternative school. Currently, the three-day festival features hand-made crafts, educational displays and costumed entertainment in a wooded setting near Veneta, Oregon just west of Eugene. Each year the festival becomes the third largest city in Lane County.

Some of the credit for this article to Wikipedia and to: www.hippy.com

The Way of the Hippy

…maybe it’s the time of year. Yes, and maybe it’s the time of man.
And I don’t know who I am. But life is for learning.
Joni Mitchell/CS&N (Woodstock) 1970

What’s a hippie? What’s the difference between an old hippie and a new hippie? Once a hippie, always a hippie? These and similar questions are the source of much debate today. New subcategories like web-hippies, cyber-hippies, even zippies have become fashionable. But what is a hippie and are you one?

To answer this question, let’s see what defines a hippie. Some say it’s the way people dress, and behave, a lifestyle. Others classify drug users and rock 'n' roll fans or those with certain radical political views as hippies. The dictionary defines a hippie as one who doesn’t conform to society’s standards and advocates a liberal attitude and lifestyle. Can all these definitions be right?

It seems to me that these definitions miss the point. By focusing on the most visible behavioral traits these limited descriptions fail to reveal what lies in the hippie heart that motivates such behavior. To understand The Way of the Hippy, we must look at those circumstances that preceded the birth of the hippy movement, the important events that changed our lives, our resulting frustration with society, and the philosophy that developed from our spiritual maturation.

Hippy is an establishment label for a profound, invisible, underground, evolutionary process. For every visible hippy, barefoot, beflowered, beaded, there are a thousand invisible members of the turned-on underground. Persons whose lives are tuned in to their inner vision, who are dropping out of the TV comedy of American Life.
Timothy Leary (The Politics of Ecstasy) 1967

My view is that being a hippie is a matter of accepting a universal belief system that transcends the social, political, and moral norms of any established structure, be it a class, church, or government. Each of these powerful institutions has it’s own agenda for controlling, even enslaving people. Each has to defend itself when threatened by real or imagined enemies. So we see though history a parade of endless conflicts with country vs. country, religion vs. religion, class vs. class. After millennia of war and strife, in which uncounted millions have suffered, we have yet to rise above our petty differences.

The way of the hippie is antithetical to all repressive hierarchical power structures since these are adverse to the hippie goals of peace, love and freedom. This is why the “Establishment” feared and suppressed the hippie movement of the ’60s, as it was a revolution against the established order. It is also the reason why the hippies were unable to unite and overthrow the system since they refused to build their own power base. Hippies don’t impose their beliefs on others. Instead, hippies seek to change the world through reason and by living what they believe.

Imagine no possesions, I wonder if you can, No need for greed or hunger, A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world.
John Lennon (Imagine)

To be a hippie you must believe in peace as the way to resolve differences among peoples, ideologies and religions. The way to peace is through love and tolerance. Loving means accepting others as they are, giving them freedom to express themselves and not judging them based on appearances. This is the core of the hippie philosophy.

…see the whole thing is a world full of rucksack wanderers, Dharma Bums refusing to subscribe to the general demand that they consume production and therefore have to work for the privilege of consuming, all that crap they didn’t really want anyway such as refrigerators, TV sets, cars, …all of them imprisoned in a system of work, produce, consume, work, produce, consume, I see a vision of a great rucksack revolution thousands or even millions of young Americans wandering around with rucksacks, going up to mountains to pray, making children laugh and old men glad, making young girls happy and old girls happier, all of ‘em Zen Lunatics who go about writing poems that happen to appear in their heads for no reason and also by being kind and also by strange unexpected acts keep giving visions of eternal freedom to everybody and to all living creatures.
Jack Kerouac (The Dharma Bums) 1958

The hippy movement erected signposts for all to see. Some warn us of impending danger, others direct us towards richer, more fulfilling lives, but most show us the road to freedom. Freedom is the paramount virtue in this system. Freedom to do as one pleases, go where the flow takes you, and to be open to new experiences. This engenders an attitude that allows for maximum personal growth.

If you want to be free, be free, because there’s a million things to be.
Cat Stevens (If You Want to Sing Out)

Our society only permits you one or two weeks a year of freedom to pursue your own agenda. The rest of the time we are slaves to the system. Hippies reject the 9 to 5 lifestyle and therefore are objects of ridicule by those whose lives run by the clock. Programmed people are jealous and resent the freedom we possess. The unmitigated freedom that hippies represent is the greatest threat to any system in which control equals power.

I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of established order. I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road towards freedom - external freedom is a way to bring about internal freedom.
Jim Morrison

With all this freedom comes a lot of responsibility. The system does not make it easy for us to survive without sacrificing our values. Therefore we must discover alternative ways to make a living without being a drag on our planet’s resources and our fellow humans. Hippies have pioneered numerous lifestyles and alternative businesses including communes, cooperatives, holistic medicine and health food. We focused everyone’s concern on the environment to highlight our responsibilities to our planet and to future generations.

I’ve been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one.
And I believe it could be, someday it’s going to come.
Cat Stevens (Peace Train)

Other beliefs that spring from our core philosophy are: an earthy spirituality such as a belief in Gaia (the earth as an organism), the Greens movement (political activism), even shamanism and vegetarianism. These philosophical and political views reflect a respect for nature and the planet as a whole, something lacking in our capitalistic and materialistic societies. The world needs hippies to point out alternatives to the entrenched system and warn of the impending disasters that await us if we don’t change our lifestyles. The goal is not to make everyone a hippie (what would we have to protest?). Rather we can try to influence others by example, through tolerance and love and teaching the virtues of the hippie way.

You create your own reality.
Seth (Seth Speaks)

So being a hippie is not a matter of dress, behavior, economic status, or social milieu. It is a philosophical approach to life that emphasizes freedom, peace, love and a respect for others and the earth. The way of the hippie never died. There have always been hippies from the first time society laid down rules, to Jesus, to Henry David Thoreau, to John Lennon, to you and me. I believe there’s a little hippy in all of us. It’s just been repressed by our socialization process. We need to find it and cultivate our hippie within. Only then can we reach our true potential.

I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken)

As hippies age they come to terms with the same situations all humans must face. Wiser than before, let’s help the younger hippies find a way to save the earth and achieve more freedom than exists in our wildest dreams. Let’s find our common ground, build a worldwide community, and once again let our freak flags fly and become all we are destined to be.

Hippies from A to Z

We are stardust, we are golden,
and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
Joni Mitchell/CS&N (Woodstock)

So what do hippies want anyway? What is their utopian fantasy? It's easy to criticize the existing system, but just what do hippies have to replace it? Many accuse the hippies of being dreamers (one of the more benign accusations!). But I like to think that hippies are bringing a message to humanity. An urgent message. We need to change. Now!

We all want to change the world.
The Beatles (Revolution)

How? How about rethinking our whole relationship to the planet. Once upon a time people thought about the future in terms of decades and generations. They were concerned about the legacy they would leave their children and grandchildren. Today that seems so far from our thoughts. Our primary concern is; "What can I get now?"

It seems as though there's some kind of "land grab" going on, except it's not just land that people are grabbing, it's resources and power. It's like a party where no one got enough to eat, and the last few morsels are left, and everyone's eyeing them covetously, ready to fight for that last bite.

It's a problem of too many people, diminishing resources, human greed, rampant consumerism, and massive development of the few remaining untouched places like the rainforests. Our utopian fantasy doesn't necessarily require something to be done, but rather so many things for us to refrain from doing. That's the first step. Let's preserve what we have before greedy individuals and corporations gobble it up.

I'm just beginning to see...
The trees are drawing me near, I've got to find out why.
The Moody Blues (Tuesday Afternoon)

Then on an individual basis, hippies maintain that we must get back in touch with that part of ourselves that we lost. That innocence about the world, that hope for a future full of wonders. We want to reclaim our right to a healthy life and a healthy planet. We are all infected to some degree with a disease that requires us to consume way more than we need to survive. If all this greed had some noble purpose, perhaps it could be justified, but unfortunately it has become an end unto itself.

Like a true Nature's child, we were born, born to be wild
Steppenwolf (Born to be Wild)

Many hippies consider themselves pagan. Paganism is the belief that nature in itself has the answers to life's most important questions. Paganism is a way of showing respect for the natural paradise we have on earth. It puts us in touch with that animal essence which we all repress, but is the key to our health and survival. The idea that Mother Nature knows best is the basis for the Ecology movement. To second-guess nature, to manipulate her for personal gain is likely to have unexpected consequences which will backfire in the long term.

That organism, that creature of which we are each a part,
is the biosphere, the living surface of this planet Earth.
That stirring we all feel, that move towards group-consciousness,
is the biosphere of Earth becoming aware of its existence.
It is being born.
We are waking up.
Paul Williams (Das Energi)

Gaian philosophy is an outgrowth of paganism. Paganism sees everything living as imbued with spirit. Gaianism goes one step further and sees the entire planet as one evolving entity, of which we are an integral part. Thus to clear cut rainforests, to pollute the seas, the land and the air is not just showing disrespect, it's raping our loving host that provides us with everything we need. In our endless greed we take and take, throwing the system out of balance. Many believe that Gaia will attempt compensate and restore the balance, probably by unleashing some plague upon mankind to reduce our numbers, if she doesn't kill us off completely.

Our responsibility as individual cells of a living organism,
is to perform our individual functions as well as possible.
Our orders come from within…we are free to be ourselves…
Our lives will grow richer and richer as the health of the
total organism improves.
Our destiny is unimaginably high.
Paul Williams (Das Energi)

Man's shortsightedness is blinding him to the true nature of the world. Our interconnectedness and dependence upon the ecological balance of the planet as a whole has been lost ever since science and religion split long ago. Hippies seek to regain this awareness so we can act in accordance with the needs of the greater system, rather than be a severe burden upon it. It's our Dharma.

Without stirring abroad,
One can know the whole world;
Without looking out of the window
One can see the way of heaven.
The further one goes
The less one knows.
Lao Tzu

This awareness, once attained, requires us to reassess our role as human beings on the planet Earth. The questions; "Why are we here?" and "What is the meaning of life?" are the most important questions we can ask ourselves. As I said before, Paganism provides those answers. We are here to serve the planet in the highest capacity we are capable of realizing. Truly, our needs are few. Those needs manufactured by our society are just tools used to keep us slaving for our rich masters while they destroy our common wealth.

One thing I can tell you is you've got to be FREE!
John Lennon (Come Together)

Freedom is shedding those false needs and finding one's true place in the greater scheme. Understanding the interdependence of life is seeing beyond the material illusion (Maya) and witnessing the dance of energy that is the true nature of the universe. This is called enlightenment. Hippies seek enlightenment in various ways. Drugs provide but a fleeting glimpse of the true nature of reality. We know that before you can change the world, you must change yourself and find peace within. Yoga and meditation bring us this inner peace and help us to act in balance with our surroundings. Eastern mysticism from Ashtanga Yoga to Zen Buddhism provide us with various paths to enlightenment.

Hippies are the most open-minded folks when it comes to religion. We study most of the world's religions and take what makes sense and enhances personal freedom and reject the dogma. So our philosophy is a melange of the teachings of Christ, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Krishna, Gandhi, even some latter-day saints like Lennon, Leary and Morrison. Some hippies choose a particular religion or guru to follow, while others blaze their own path, following the Tao wherever it takes them like a true Dharma bum.

If you meet Buddha on the road, kill him.
Book title by Sheldon Kopp

Of course we know that a perfect planet is unrealistic. People come to this planet to work out their Karma. Human beings must live and learn by their mistakes. But we need to see examples of how to live in peace and harmony before we can change ourselves. Christ and Buddha were two such examples, and look at how many lives they influenced. Imagine what a whole nation of Bodhisattvas could do! This is our dream. To live in harmony with each other and our planet. How close we come to achieving it depends upon each person's willingness to change themselves. May we all see the light.